COLUMBUS -- Thad Matta was speaking of his own Buckeyes, but incidentally summed up Michigan’s trip to Value City Arena.

“With the challenges that (the Big Ten) brings, you’ve got to find ways to make the plays,” the Ohio State coach said.

Both in the big picture and in the moment, Michigan needed to respond on Tuesday. The Wolverines had stumbled of late. A loss at Iowa over the weekend saw them get buried early and never rise back to the surface. Though still tied alongside Michigan State in the league standings, losses in two of the last three games opened doors of doubt.

That backstory boiled over on Tuesday. Facing the 22nd-ranked Buckeyes, winners of three straight, Michigan fell into a double-digit first-half hole. In the second half, the Wolverines found themselves down six with 12 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the game.

Michigan responded each time.

As a result, that big picture has a different focus following a 70-60 U-M win.

“We had to stay united,” said Michigan coach John Beilein, who earned his first win at Ohio State in his seven-year tenure in Ann Arbor. “We were still going to make some errors here and there, but we fought through the mistake we made and our defensive turnaround in the second half was really good.”

No. 15 Michigan outscored Ohio State 33-17 over the final 12:11 and held the Buckeyes to 15-of-42 shooting after they opened the night 8-of-10 from the field.

They were the types of responses missing in Iowa City. They were the types of answers Michigan had back when it knocked of three straight top-10 teams three weeks ago.

“Shows a lot of high character,” Beilein said.

Among the characters to do so …

After Michigan (18-6, 10-2 Big Ten) fell down 17-8 early, senior Jordan Morgan gave a floundering offense new life. He bulled through the paint to tip in a missed layup by Spike Albrecht. A few minutes later, he reeled in an offensive rebound and a hit a short jumper.

Ultimately he bridged the gap to an 8-0 run that narrowed a potentially wide halftime deficit down to 30-26.

“We came up with some loose balls and really fought for a lot of rebounds that could have gone either way and that made the difference in the game,” said Morgan, who finished with six points and eight rebounds (six offensive) in 19 minutes.

Irvin drilled a 3-pointer on his first shot to cut into OSU’s early 13-5 lead. In the second half, he sank another from the wing to ignite a 12-0 run that pushed Michigan to a 49-43 lead with 9:15 remaining.

Walton, meanwhile, scored all 13 of his points after halftime and committed only one turnover in 36 minutes. He controlled the game’s tempo after a rocky start, chased down a career-high 10 rebounds, handed out six assists and, for good measure, drew a key charge in the second half.

“At the beginning of the game, the pace was kind of frantic, so I kind of slowed it down in the second half and did a good job of trying to pick my spots and I was able to get in the lane and make the right play for the team,” Walton said.

One of the reasons Walton was so effective was Nik Stauskas’ efficiency. The sophomore guard was defended by Ohio State’s Aaron Craft all night. Attempting to eliminate Craft, the Big Ten’s top defensive disruptor, from interrupting U-M’s offensive flow, Beilein often stationed Stauskas off alone on one side of the floor.

“Just to take (Craft) out of there,” Beilein said.

Stauskas scored 15 points and hit three 3-pointers nonetheless and did so without forcing anything.

Then there’s his fellow sophomore, Glenn Robinson III. Plagued by a faulty jumper and dipping stats, Robinson again finished with under 10 points (nine) and found himself subbed out for Irvin in some key stretches.

Even with that, though, he responded.

Robinson hit a crucial 3-pointer with Michigan leading 56-52 and under three minutes remaining.

"A huge shot for us," Beilein said.

It was the response U-M needed, when it needed it.

Actually, it was one of many.

Brendan F. Quinn covers University of Michigan basketball. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on Wolverines hoops. He can be contacted at bquinn@mlive.com